


fresh fire

by capra



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: M/M, Shoma POV, Shoma Uno-centric, gold medalist shoma uno, rivals in love, you guys are making me look like a shoma main
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 19:50:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18169313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capra/pseuds/capra
Summary: It's been a year since they've seen each other (except it hasn't been (except it has been)).





	fresh fire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [unos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unos/gifts), [shomaun_ho](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shomaun_ho/gifts).



> I have a very long queue of WIPs, fic seeds, and other miscellaneous Things I Should Be Writing. So of course in response to IRL stressors, instead of working on any of those, I spent a bus ride spitting this out on my phone.
> 
> Utterly unrevised and unbetaed.
> 
> This photo of Keiji and Shoma at Saitama early practices happened:  
> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2Bef9VXgAAANbO.jpg  
> (This is why:  
> https://twitter.com/yawning_shoma/status/1107933597984382976 )  
> And these photos from Team Japan press conference after the practice happened:  
> https://twitter.com/tshashin/status/1107861692560470021
> 
> And then this ramble that barely counts as a fic happened.
> 
> Creative license has been taken with the chronology of events.
> 
> This story is based on a narrow range of cherrypicked personality qualities culled from my personal and very biased interpretation of the publically available personas of real human beings who are, I am quite certain, not similar at all to how they're depicted here.
> 
> In short, it's complete fiction.

They haven't seen each other in over a year.

That's not true, though. They haven't competed against each other since Pyeongchang, but that doesn't mean they've been living on different planets. No, not even considering their formidably antisocial natures. Nor the limitations of the season; of course, there's boundaries on what they can do, on how they spend their time, but there's plenty of room around the edges.

They have a constant conversation going in LINE: words and emoji supplemented with video of combos (failed and achieved) and pictures of post- work- out sweat marks. Every kilo of weight they add on the leg press, every percent of body fat dropped, every dumb internet video that makes them giggle til they snort - everything's fair game. Shoma spams Yuzu with stickers of his own face - he bought the pack as soon as it dropped, before Yuzu himself had even remembered to tell Shoma he was working with LINE on it. Yuzu finds a pack of Vainglory stickers and spams Shoma in turn. There's a sticker of Shoma's favorite character making heart hands, and Yuzu sends twenty of it in a chain each time Shoma climbs a podium.

Beyond messages, there's video chat; they log a hundred hours on FaceTime and Skype, most of them while they're up early or up late, screenlit smiles and messy rooms in the backgrounds. While Shoma's in Chicago for jump training, they take their video calls to the ice, stroking and turning laps and pretending they're much closer than six hundred miles.  They don't talk much on these calls - their breath is saved for their work, and they steal focus for as long as they can before they're caught, watching each other's faces more closely than the ice under their own blades. 

And, maybe, they _have_  found time to visit in person, here and there. Maybe even three whole visits this year, more than other years because they don't share any comps, and because some things are too big to be borne separately. When Yuzu crumpled in Moscow and later that day got up and skated anyway; when Shoma stood a step above his idol on the National podium and later that day broke down sobbing in his hotel room, elated and broken and proud and guilty and gratified and confused all at once - they came together, found the time. _Made_ the time.

So they've _seen_ each other, spent time together, and not just in passing. Significant time, fulfilling time. Time spent carnally, even. They've not become strangers, by any means; they've worked hard, tending their relationship, protecting it from drought and chill, and they've watched it flourish.

Now, after a year and then some, now they're finally on the same ice again. No FaceTime needed. And it's a lot. It's a  _lot._

Shoma is standing at the boards, watching Yuzu's practice group skate. He's watching Yuzu. Shoma is watching Yuzu skate on competition ice in person for the first time in over a year, and his chest is tight, because for the first time in over a year, _this_ part of Yuzu is finally here for him, finally unlocked in front of his eyes.

It feels like an arrival. Like finally arriving at his destination after a day and a half of travel; like the satisfying lurch when the plane's wheels hit the tarmac. Your stomach flips, but you're glad to feel it, because it means the journey is done, your exertion and patience and the stamina simply required to endure the waiting -- they've all paid off, and the familiarity of home and the arms of your loved ones are only a few doorways away. It feels like that, but the feeling is even more, even greater in size, in power.

Just a few minutes ago, Keiji was dragging Shoma forward by the hand. Beaming, answering Shoma's self-conscious giggles with bigger, bolder ones of his own. _"Don't be shy, you idiot, come greet him!"_

But Shoma shakes his head, shakes Keiji off, watches quietly. He's going to say hi, yeah, and he'll certainly hug Yuzu hello as they cross paths at the boards -- Shoma's group going on the ice, Yuzu's coming off. And later tonight, if they're lucky, they'll steal enough privacy for a single embrace, for the amount of kisses that fit into ten stolen minutes. 

But none of that will be his greeting. Shoma will **_greet_** Yuzu by landing the first jump of his warm up group, before the others in his group have even finished their first laps to warm up. The crack of his blade on the ice, fast and loud and sharp, will snap Yuzu's head around, demand his attention. And Yuzu will give it. Shoma will make him.

Instead of disappearing past the curtains immediately, Yuzu will linger at rinkside, and instead of making a point not to look at any other skater on the ice, like usual, he will make a point _to_ look, seeking out Shoma, tracking his movement around the rink like a cat with a bird. Shoma will feel the weight of Yuzu's gaze like a physical thing on the back of his neck, pressing, and he'll grin and launch another jump, rushing the run-up, impatient to carry Yuzu's gaze into the air with him, impatient to savor its weight on his shoulders and the snap of his blades on the ice when they come back down together. Yuzu's gaze will cling to him with depthless challenge and tightly-leashed avarice, and Shoma will feel its energy under his skin, fierce and impressed and proud and aggressive, fighting and loving, for the rest of the day.

It's been over a year since they've shared ice with medals on the line, over a year since Shoma's seen Yuzu's competitive fire unleashed.

But it's been over a year since Yuzu's seen Shoma's, too, and today feels like the right day to remind him so.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, and thank you to my lovelies at KSSC, particularly unos & shomaun_ho, for inspiring this.


End file.
